SOME time since Mr. Ezra Haskell came to Oakland and commenced a series of temperance meetings. Mr. Haskell is a minister, of what denomination we have not inquired, and he works for temperance on a Christian basis. He labored for some time, with rather small congregations, with little support from the city. He is a genuine philanthropist, sparing no pains or means to lift up the slaves of a debased and debasing appetite from their lowly condition.
Within the last week delegations were appointed by the following churches, the Free Presbyterian, Seventh-day Adventist, First Congregational, and Central Baptist, to co-operate with and aid Mr. Haskell in his praiseworthy efforts. As a consequence the audiences have largely increased in size, the singing is improved, and the interest seems to be greatly revived in the city.
The main fault we have to find with these temperance efforts is that they are spasmodic; too soon suffered to die out. The efforts of the liquor dealers never decline. They never grow weary in their work of evil. There are enough true-hearted temperance workers in this city to keep the work up the year round and to see that the laws of the State are respected and observed, if they will only unite with a determination to carry it on. We pray the blessing of heaven to attend these meetings, and that the minds of the people may be educated up to the very highest standard of temperance in their own practice and in their efforts for others.
The Seventh-day Adventists have held a meeting in their own house and organized the temperance work. We shall report on this next week.
The Reformation not yet Complete.
By Uriah Smith
FOUR hundred years ago Christendom was lost in the darkness of the great apostasy. A power, foretold ages before by the prophets of God, had long held all western Europe in absolute subjection to its spiritual control. The period known as the dark ages was the golden age of Romanism. The little horn of Dan. 7:24 had plucked up three other horns, and was more stout than his fellows. The saints, times, and laws, were in his hands. Paul's man of sin, 2 Thess. 2:3, had been developed, and held his seat as God, in the temple of God. Christianity, through the working of the mystery of iniquity, had gone into partnership with paganism, and the hybrid firm was the papacy. The doctrines of Christ had been obscured. Errors and superstition of the grossest form were rampant and unrestrained.
Upon this scene of darkness happily the light of the Reformation began to dawn. Multitudes began to throw off the shackles of papal superstition and emerge from the darkness of its teaching. No marvel if in that time of transition, everything did not at first assume its permanent and proper form. But truth is progressive; and the work went on. But all the theology of our day has come from the era of error, darkness, and corruption, here described. It would be too much to expect that every Romish perversion in doctrine, or error in practice, should be at once discovered and discarded. Something certainly is wrong in the Protestant bodies that have come out from the Romish church; for schism has become wide spread, and sects have multiplied.
God designed that his people should be one. The Son of God so prayed. And the word of God, which he has given us as the source of our instruction, and the basis of our belief, is not yea and nay. This confusion of sentiment is the work of the enemy. It has its source, substantially, in three great errors. 1. A wrong principle of interpretation. 2. An effort to bring the Bible to support what we have pre-determined to believe. 3. Reforming in part, and then barring the way to all further progress by a human creed.
This last is perhaps the worst error of all, for it is a step backward toward the spiritual tyranny of Rome. If a church before it becomes free from Romish errors, adopts a creed, these errors are stereotyped into its belief; and that this is the case with most Protestant churches, is the testimony of discerning men.
Alexander Campbell, (Baptism, p. 15) says:—
"All of them [the Protestant sects] retain in their bosom, in their ecclesiastical organizations, worship, doctrines, observances, various relics of popery. They are at best a reformation of popery, and reformations only in part. The doctrines and traditions of men yet impair the power and progress of the gospel in their hands."
The terrible evil of the creed power is well set forth in the following extract from a sermon by Chas. Beecher:—
"Our best, most humble, most devoted servants of Christ, are fostering in their midst what will one day, not long hence, show itself to be the spawn of the dragon. They shrink from any rude word against creeds with the same sensitiveness with which those holy fathers would have shrunk from a rude word against the rising veneration of saints and martyrs which they were fostering. . . . The Protestant evangelical denominations have so tied up one another's hands, and their own, that, between them all, a man cannot become a preacher at all, anywhere, without accepting some book besides the Bible. . . . And is not the Protestant church apostate? Oh! remember, the final form of apostasy shall rise, not by crosses, processions, baubles. We understand all that. Apostasy never comes on the outside. It develops. It is an apostasy that shall spring into life within us; an apostasy that shall martyr a man who believes his Bible ever so holily; yea, who may even believe what the creed contains, but who may happen to agree with the Westminster Assembly that, proposed as a test, it is an unwarrantable imposition. That is the apostasy we have to fear, and is it not already formed? . . . Will it be said that our fears are imaginary? Imaginary? Did not the Rev. John M. Duncan, in the years 1825-6, or thereabouts, sincerely believe the Bible? Did he not even believe substantially the confession of faith? And was he not, for daring to say what the Westminster Assembly said, that, to require the reception of that creed as a test of ministerial qualification was an unwarrantable imposition, brought to trial, condemned, excommunicated, and his pulpit declared vacant? There is nothing imaginary in the statement that the creed-power is now beginning to prohibit the Bible as really as Rome did, though in a subtler way.
"Oh! woeful day! Oh! unhappy church of Christ! fast rushing round and round the fatal circle of absorbing ruin! . . . Daily does every one see that things are going wrong. With sighs does every true heart confess that rottenness is somewhere; but, ah! it is hopeless of reform. We all pass on, and the tide rolls down to night. The waves of coming conflict which is to convulse Christendom to her center are beginning to be felt. The deep heavings begin to swell beneath us. 'All the old signs fail.' 'God answers no more by Urim and Thummim, nor by dream, nor by prophet.' Men's hearts are failing them for fear and for looking after those things that are coming on the earth. Thunders mutter in the distance. Winds moan across the surging bosom of the deep. All things betide the rising of that final storm of divine indignation which shall sweep away the vain refuge of lies."
Hopkins on the Millennium says:—
"There is no reason to consider the anti-Christian spirit and practices confined to that which is now called the church of Rome. The Protestant churches have much of anti-Christ in them, and are far from being wholly reformed from the corruptions and wickedness."
Simpson in his "Plea for Religion," speaking of the doctrines and ceremonies of the Romish church, which are "inimical to the pure and unadulterated gospel of Jesus Christ," says:—
"That Protestant churches should imitate the church of Rome in this worst part of its conduct, can never be sufficiently bewailed."
In this condition are the professed churches of Christ found as the last days come down upon us. But it would be inconsistent to suppose that God would suffer his gospel to close, and the end to come without bringing forth a church in whose belief and practice the errors of the Romish apostasy would find no place. The church which is to be prepared for the second coming of Christ, must be entirely free from papal errors and corruptions. We accordingly find a movement in progress in these last days, designed of God to accomplish this result.
U. S.
Slipshod Ways.
MARK and Jane were to be married in a week. Dropping into the Taylor sitting-room one evening, Mark found Aunt Mary assisting Jane about some of her elaborate and mysterious bridal preparations. Aunt Mary was always considerate and sympathetic in her words and ways, and Mark liked her. He sat down by her in unwonted silence and with a cloudy brow.
Jane looked at him furtively from behind the clouds of white lace and muslin in her lap, as he mechanically poked over the multitudinous trifles in her dainty work-basket, making as vague and unsatisfactory answers to her numerous questions as if he were guessing conundrums. After ten minutes had been spent in this rather stupid way, Aunt Mary asked, suddenly—
"Well, Mark, what is it?"
The young man started and looked up at her with a smile, as bright as if a heavy fog had been lifted off his mental horizon, as he said—
"I declare, Aunt Mary, I didn't mean to speak of it, but I am as nervous as a girl over—over—next Thursday; not the ceremony itself, mind you: I shall really enjoy the display in the church—but I refer to all the life that is to follow."
"Marriage is indeed the most important event of a lifetime, and the outlook to every reflective mind must be a serious one," said the sweet-faced old lady; "but may I ask what has brought up the subject so impressively, before you to-night?"
"The fact is, Aunt Mary," replied Mark, hesitatingly, "I have just come from cousin Henry's. As I was passing the gate I heard the wood-shed door open and Susan's voice call out: 'supper's ready.' The pleasing vision of a neat dining-room, a cosy tea-table, and two happy contented young souls enjoying the nicely cooked, tastefully served evening meal rose up before me, and I could not resist the impulse to turn back and take a look at them. I ran in unceremoniously, as is my wont, announcing myself as I opened the sitting-room door, by a hearty 'good evening.' There was no fire in the room, but plenty of dust and disorder.
'Come right in here' shouted out Henry; and I followed his voice through the dining room, unwarmed except by the far-away warmth of the kitchen fire. A large basket of rough, unironed and unfolded clothes, was turned bottom upwards on the extension table, an immense clothes-horse filled half the room, and every chair was loaded with coats, hats, cloaks, and shawls.
'We just use the dining-room as a sort of gangway in winter,' said Henry, 'and den up here, except when we have company. If anybody runs in upon us they must take us as they find us.' This was not an over-cordial welcome, but I went along into the kitchen where Henry was seating himself at the tea table, which, if you will believe, Aunt Mary, was their little hanging cooking-table covered with a strip of oilcloth. A few odd pieces of crockery were scattered upon it without regard to order.
"The little kitchen was untidy, the stove dirty and rusty. There were memories of Saturday's baking in the shape of flour, dough, and grease on the floor, table, and door latches, and a salt cod-fish with a cotton string around its tail was hanging to the knob of the closet door. Susan's hair was rough and frowzy, and her gown was torn and soiled. Dear me! who could have imagined that such a state of things was so soon to follow their great and expensive wedding? What a picture of loveliness the bride was! They might as well hire two or three rooms in a flat to 'den up' in, as to own that large and elegantly furnished house and not use it, or to so misuse it.
"This scene rather discouraged me. Were Jane and I to deteriorate in that way I think I would rather have everything stop just where it is. I believe it would save us a world of trouble, and we would go on looking at married life as we would have made it, through rose-colored glasses;" and Mark moved uneasily, got up nervously, and going around the table seated himself by Jane's side.
"Perhaps Henry is not altogether blameless in the premises," said Aunt Mary, coming back to the table with a red face after an energetic search for the shears; "did he fix himself up for tea?"
"Oh, dear, no," replied Mark, "he sat down and ate his bread and milk in his shirt sleeves, collarless and cravatless, and with unbrushed hair and whiskers. He would not have shown himself to Susan in such a plight before his marriage, I assure you."
Aunt Mary looked at the pretty Swiss clock on the mantel, took her gold pencil, wrote a little note, and then said to the young man: "I wish, Mark, dear, you would carry this billet over to my nephew, Horace Alden's, for me. They live in the east tenement of the Rutherford block, you kuow, and on the strength of your cousinship that is to be, I want you to run in without ceremony."
Mark came back in an hour with a radiant face. Removing his hat, he made Aunt Mary a low bow, saying: "I am very much obliged to you. I wouldn't surrender the opportunity that may be graciously given me of helping make a home with Jane here for any earthly consideration."
"Indeed," cried Aunt Mary, in seeming surprise, "perhaps you will be good enough to tell us what has changed your mind so suddenly."
"Well, you see," said Mark, "I ran up the stairs and opened the door at the top, as you told me, and such a charming picture that I saw. A living room, neither parlor, dining room, nor kitchen, but a happy combination of the three made attractive and homelike by perfect neatness order, and good taste. Such a cordial welcome as I had, to be sure. I was heartily ashamed of myself when it came over me how well I used to know both Horace and his charming wife, and that I had not called on them before.
"I gave Julia your note, and she read it with a little laugh and insisted that I should take off my overcoat and take tea with them. The cosy round table, with its snow-white cloth and pretty tea-service, looking so inviting I could not resist the temptation. 'Horace does not get out of the store till seven; he sees to the closing up; so we have our tea at half-past seven,' Mrs. Alden said. Julia's dress was plain but tasty and neat, set off by a dainty white apron; and her simple toilet was completed by a geranium leaf and a verbena blossom in her shining hair. Horace, in a handsome dressing-gown and embroidered slippers, looking every inch a gentleman, as he is.
"The situation made us confidential, and I asked Mrs. Alden how she had managed to settle down into being such a wonderful little housekeeper, and she said, 'I used to be somewhat inclined to be careless in my habits, and I suppose my friends had some misgivings as to my ability to keep house. Among my wedding presents was one from a great aunt of mine who was wonderfully skillful with a needle. This is this teapot mat'—and she held it up to my inspection. It was a scalloped circle of scarlet broad-cloth, with a slipper run down at the heel embroidered in it in black worsted, with the words, 'Never get slipshod.'"
"'This has been a constant reminder to me,' Julia went on. 'Were I tempted to neglect any trifling duty for the first time, my eye would fall upon or recall the words of Aunt Mattie's motto, and I would not only do what I had thought of neglecting, but would do it a little better, if possible. Horace, too, has kept me from falling into slipshod ways by his own habits of neatness. He always touches up his toilet for my sake before every meal as punctiliously as if we had company. Of course, when he is so thoughtful of me I cannot be less regardful of him. All these little things take a few of the precious moments of our fleeting lives, but we consider their observance our bounden and interchangeable duty. Since housekeeping is the principal business I have in hand, I want to do my best in that vocation; to be as conscientious and painstaking in that as I would in teaching music or any other accomplishment. I enjoy my work, and it comes easy to me.. I take both pleasure and pride in it, and I think the secret of my success in this humble sphere of mine has been my keeping everything up from the very first, and never allowing myself in the smallest particular to fall into slipshod ways.'"
Mark and Jane, now settled in their beautiful well ordered home on the banks of the Connecticut, only the other evening spoke of the two lessons this December evening brought them, and the lasting impressions they wrought.
Setting a Fashion.
"Whence come the fashions?" is a question often asked. Several years ago a leading New York house imported through a blunder, a certain very ugly material which would not sell, and lay dead upon their hands. Something had to be done. The proprietors of one or two fashion papers were interviewed. The next week their columns told thousands of eager readers that there had recently been shown a new and stylish fabric which promised to be very fashionable, and the statement was widely copied by the daily press. Retail dealers found their customers inquiring for it, and sought it of the jobbers. The jobbers in turn sought it of the importers, who quickly unloaded their whole stock at a handsome profit. The goods were voted "beautiful" and "stylish," and the fabric was "the rage" for a time. Just how much the fashion papers were paid was never divulged. All of which shows how one fashion was "set," and "what fools these mortals be."—Boston Transcript.
Economy
The habit that obtains in many families of 'heaping' food and giving a little and considerable more than asked for, has nothing to be said in its favor, and a great deal against it. Unless one has a strong, firm appetite that only an earthquake or a tempest could effect, a large quantity of food is appalling. It is much pleasanter to send one's plate and have it replenished, than to be obliged to leave food upon the plate. In order to clear the plate one is prone to overeat, from an idea of 'saving' the food.
Economy does not signify a lack of plentifulness nor stinginess. It means enough for each and all, and nothing is wasted, and when food is served in over-abundance, waste must be the result, unless, indeed, the surplus is gathered together again—the simple idea of which is disgusting. Moreover, it is a comfort to get just what one asks for and no more.
Improper Correction.
Anna C. Brackett, in the American Journal of Education, calls the attention of teachers to the liability of children to be punished or corrected without their clearly knowing why. "They may thus, perhaps, understand," she adds, "what often seems to them so incomprehensible—why a child who has been rebuked for disorderly conduct repeats the offense almost immediately, giving the impression of willful and malicious wrong doing. The same mistake is frequently made in recitations. A pupil's answer is pronounced 'wrong, and the question passed to another, when he does not know what his error is and often fancies that it lies in quite a different direction from that in which it really lies. One of the most successful teachers we know is almost invariably in the habit, after having passed the question and received a correct answer, of asking the pupil who failed, 'Why did I pass that question?' A few trials of this simple interrogation will soon, we think, convince any teacher of the truth of what we say. The most astonishing misunderstandings are thus continually brought to light, and we become convinced of how double-edged a thing is this language which we use so thoughtlessly and freely."
Reports from the Field.
By John G. Matteson
Christiana, Norway.
THE truth is clearing away the mist from many minds. The Lord is helping us. It appears that we have come here just in time. No missionary work had been done before us; no tracts or papers had prepared the way. The greatest prejudice existed against our faith. And yet the Lord has been to work on many hearts, and the providence of God has kindly guided.
Some of the priests and a number of the students often come to our meetings. The State university is here, and the learning of the country is centered here. The past week has been occupied by the life and death question. On no question do the people in this country entertain more prejudice; yet the battle has been fought successfully, and many souls are rejoicing in the light.
A Baptist brother, who has embraced the truth, is editor of a semi-monthly religious paper, which has about one thousand subscribers in this city. He calls the attention of his readers to our work in this city, and tells them that his paper for the coming year will be principally devoted to the great doctrine of the coming of the Lord, and the prophecies.
The Sabbath question has only been spoken of occasionally as yet. Nevertheless, it has stirred up the zeal of leading men in the city, so that they held a mass meeting last night to form a society for the defense of their Sunday institution, and to take measures, by publishing tracts, writing articles, etc., to bring about a more sacred regard for Sunday.
It is now seven weeks since I commenced preaching here. Last Sabbath forty persons met with us to worship the Lord, most of whom are keeping the Sabbath. In the afternoon we commenced a Bible-class, which promises to be of much interest. To the Lord be all the praise.
JOHN G. MATTESON.
December 22, 1879.
Genoa, Nevada.
By B. A. Stephens
THIS is an agricultural town of nearly three hundred inhabitants, fourteen miles south of Carson, the State capital. Little or no religious interest has been manifested among the people, the various Protestant sects, and even the Catholics, having failed to establish themselves here. Commenced meetings January 16, in the county court-house, which is given to us free, and have had an average attendance of sixty for this first week. Obtained four new subscribers to the SIGNS, sold four of our bound books, spoke with freedom seven times to deeply interested audiences, and have made several valuable acquaintances. People who have not attended church, some for twenty years, come regularly. For all of which we praise the Lord, and look for him to give the increase. B. A. STEPHENS.
Jan. 23, 1879.
Dakota.
By S. B. Whitney
Our district quarterly meeting is just closed. There was a good representation of the entire Territory, and our house of worship was filled. Dakota having formerly comprised a district of the Iowa T. and M. Society, the question of organizing a separate society was favorably entertained, and such an organization was effected by electing S. B. Whitney, Swan Lake, Turner county, President; and Bro. D. T. Biggs, Howard, Turner county, Secretary.
The Lord gave freedom in speaking the word, which was gladly received, and the brethren were encouraged, and all felt that their efforts to spread the truth will be blessed of God, and that large numbers will be added to the faith.
I would send greeting to all my brethren in New York and Pennsylvania, and ask them to especially remember me in my new field.
S. B. WHITNEY.
Swan Lake, January 13.
Niantic, R. I.
By S. S. Mooney
I WENT to Niantic by invitation of Bro. Chester, and commenced meetings in the S. D. Baptist meeting-house. Three or four Adventists and about as many Baptists labored with me to make the meetings interesting. The Lord blessed the effort, and about a dozen commenced to serve Him, nine of whom I baptized. Quite a number of others have expressed a great deal of interest. Seventeen have signed the covenant. Though there has been some opposition, yet they seem to stand firm in the truth. We think some others will be added to their numbers soon.
S. S. MOONEY.
January 8, 1879.
The Home Circle.
THERE'S DANGER IN THE TOWN.
THERE, John, hitch Dobbin to the post; come near me and sit down;
Your mother wants to talk to you before you drive to town.
My hairs are gray, I soon shall be at rest within the grave;
Not long will mother pilot you o'er life's tempestuous wave.
I've watched o'er you from infancy, till now you are a man,
And I have always loved you, as a mother only can;
At morning and at evening I have prayed the God of love
To bless and guide my darling boy to the bright home above.
A mother's eye is searching, John—old age can't dim its sight,
When watching o'er an only child, to see if he does right;
And very lately I have seen what has aroused my fears,
And made my pillow hard at night, and moistened it with tears.
I've seen a light within your eye, upon your cheeks a glow,
That told me you are in the road that leads to shame and woe;
O, John, don't turn away your head and on my counsel frown,
Stay more upon the dear old farm—there's danger in the town.
Your father, John, is growing old, his days are nearly through,
Oh, he has labored very hard to save the farm for you;
But it will go to ruin soon, and poverty will frown,
If you keep hitching Dobbin up to drive into the town.
Your prospects for the future are very bright, my son;
Not many have your start in life when they are twenty-one;
Your star, that shines so brightly now, in darkness will decline,
If you forget your mother's words, and tarry at the wine.
Turn back again, my boy, in youth, stay by the dear old farm;
The Lord of hosts will save you with his powerful right arm;
Not long will mother pilot you o'er life's tempestuous wave;
Then light her pathway with your love down to the silent grave. —Selected.
Gilboa, Ohio.
By D. M. Canright
OVER twenty years ago, Eld. Cornell had a great interest in Gilboa. Seventy-five embraced the Sabbath, scores more were convinced, and a church was built, the first one in the State. But soon some prominent ones turned against the truth, and brought a reproach upon the cause. This large church was scattered to the four winds, the meeting-house was sold, and scarcely a vestige was left of the cause here. Still a few held on, and many could not forget the impressions received. During the last few years, one after another have come out upon the Sabbath without any labor, until there are seventeen members of the church now.
They obtained the Methodist church in Gilboa for our meetings, and I spoke eight times. Our brethren turned out well, and the outside interest was excellent, indeed the largest and best I have had in the State. The large house was full, and the best of attention was given. The people are anxious to hear the truth. More than this, I find that all around Gilboa there are loud calls for our preachers. Besides the church, there are about twenty young people and grown persons observing the Sabbath here, who are not professors. If the church can be in a good condition to help them, a few meetings would bring all these persons into the truth.
We feel that our visit to Gilboa has been a success, though only a beginning has been made.
D. M. CANRIGHT.
[It is due to that church to say that the low condition of the cause there was largely owing to removals and deaths.—ED. SIGNS.]
Dassel, Meeker County, Minn.
By John W. Moore; W. B. Hill
Sixteen are now keeping the Sabbath at Dassel. Many are interested, and the attendance is increasing. We have presented the strong points of our faith. Calls for help come from all sides. We now have invitations to hold meetings in seven places within five miles of here.
John W. Moore,
W. B. Hill.
Ward, Wilson County, Kansas.
By L. D. SANTEE
The interest in this place is excellent. Thirteen more have commenced to keep the Sabbath. The results of our labor are encouraging. The community is deeply stirred, and while the obedient are resting in the consciousness of truth, almost every opposer has an excuse of his own.
LATER.—The interest in Ward continues. Twenty-two are now keeping the Sabbath. The opposition, thus far, has been very feeble. We have established Sabbath meetings, and they are well attended. The prospect is encouraging for a large church.
L. D. SANTEE.
Spring Valley, Kansas.
By John Harvey Kellogg
I AM now in the midst of the Sabbath investigation at this place. The people are stirred for miles around. The house is full. Protestants and Catholics are joining together, covering up the long bloody past, and uniting their forces on one common platform in defense of Sunday sacredness. With the assurance that the conflict will soon be over, and the victory ours, let us in the name of God press the work. My heart says, Courage in the Lord.
J. H. Cook.
January 21, 1879.
Soliloquy, Virginia
By Isaac Sanborn
The meetings here have continued over two Sabbaths. This is the only organized church of Seventh-day Adventists in the State. The meetings have been well attended, and the interest increases. Seven have taken their stand upon the whole truth; and others are almost persuaded to do so. The church here is much revived.
I. SANBORN.
Georgia and Florida.
By Charles O. Taylor
THE few brethren in Brooks county, Ga., are steadfast, and are growing in the knowledge of the truth.
This winter I have traveled some in Florida with my team. I rode about two hundred miles, going as far as the Gulf of Mexico; and as I went I distributed tracts and talked the truth. Some were interested. I shall have some names for the SIGNS when I get back to Reynolds.
I feel much at home with this people. I find them kind and hospitable. My health is much better than it was in the North. This is a good field of labor, because there is so much to do. C. O. TAYLOR.
January 12, 1879.
TAKE all sorrows out of life, and you take away all the richness, and depth, and tenderness. Sorrow is the furnace that melts hearts together in love.
Social Effects of Tobacco.
By Dr. Gibbons
EVERY individual owes to society a certain degree of attention to his personal appearance. He has no right to make himself repulsive to those with whom he comes in contact. He has no right to make himself a nuisance. There is virtue in cleanliness and neatness.
Of all habits to which men are addicted, none so conduces to slovenliness, and to a disregard of the comfort of others, as the use of tobacco. We have known young men who were scrupulously neat in person and attire when they commenced, and who for a long time chewed so moderately and cautiously that few of their friends detected them. We have seen the same individuals a few years afterwards with the black streak in the corners of their mouth, and the black stains on their garments.
As chewers and smokers grow careless in person, they become indifferent to those obligations toward others which are enjoined by common politeness. Cautious at first not to offend in smoking or spitting, they gradually abandon restraint, and finally lose altogether that nice sense of propriety which marks the true gentleman in all the relations of life.
We knew a gentleman, or a man who should have been a gentleman, an eloquent popular lecturer, whose fame had gone abroad so that he was invited to lecture in distant places. On these occasions some private family always sought him as their guest. He was an inveterate smoker, and could not even rest in bed without his cigar. The bed, when he left it in the morning, was always strewed with ashes, and the chamber had the stench of a bar-room. He was never invited to a house the second time, and wherever he had made a visit he was remembered by housekeepers as a nuisance.
Smoking may be regarded as more offensive to others than chewing. The latter may be concealed, the former not. Chewing contaminates the breath, soils the clothing, and defiles the floor; but smoking contaminates the atmosphere to a greater extent, saturates the clothing, and envelops the body in a perpetual cloud of fetid vapor. It is possible for abstainers to avoid in a degree the nuisance of chewing. Not so with smoking. In public assemblies, in public conveyances, in committee-rooms, and in the streets, one is compelled to respire the vitiated air.
A scrupulous regard for the rights and comforts of others is an essential quality of a gentleman, and much more of a Christian. Nothing more forcibly demonstrates the demoralizing influence of tobacco than the carelessness it engenders in this respect. It is the bane of good manners. A few years of its servitude almost annihilates the gentleman. The smoker soon learns to think of himself alone, and ignores the possibility of offending others by constraining them to inhale the nauseous fumes.
The smoke, when drawn into the mouth, absorbs the putrid emanations which it finds there, and diffuses them in the atmosphere. It is disgusting to reflect, as you walk the crowded thoroughfare and are compelled to take in the fumes of a thousand cigars and pipes, that you are respiring the foul effluvia from decayed teeth and filthy mouths and diseased lungs!
On the assembling of certain religious bodies, it is customary to provide temporary homes for the members in private houses. Nothing is more common than for families, on these occasions, to announce their willingness to accommodate such guests as do not use tobacco. Think of it! ministers of the Gospel excluded from decent homes as nuisances!—Essay, by Dr. Gibbons of San Francisco.
Keeping Children’s Feet Dry
LIFE-LONG discomfort and sudden death often come to children through the inattention or carelessness of parents. A child should never be allowed to go to sleep with cold feet; the thing to be last attended to is to see that the feet are dry and warm. Neglect of this has often resulted in dangerous attacks of croup, diphtheria, or a fatal sore throat. Always on coming from school, on entering the house from a visit or errand in rainy, muddy, or thawy weather, the child should remove its shoes, and the mother should herself ascertain whether the stockings are the least damp. If they are, they should be taken off, the feet held before the fire, and rubbed with the hands until perfectly dry, and another pair of stockings and another pair of shoes put on. The reserve shoes and stockings should be kept where they are dry, so as to be ready for use on a minute's notice.
Religious News and Notes.
By Editor
-A Baptist church in Paris has 110 members.
-The Bible is now freely circulated in Portugal.
-The electric light in the cathedral at Bristol, England, is pronounced a "brilliant success."
-Archbishop Purcell's financial liabilities foot up to a million dollars. It stirs Catholicism deeply.
-The Wesleyans of England have resolved to build one hundred chapels per year for the next ten years.
-There is strong talk among the dignified ones of disciplining Talmage for his unclerical manners and methods.
-Geo. Thatcher, D. D., died in Hartford last week. For several years he was President of Iowa University.
-The Methodist Recorder says the Mennonites choose their ministers by lot, and hence have "lots" of uneducated ministers.
-The Mormon dignitaries at Salt Lake denounce the decision of the Supreme Court, and defy the authority of the United States.
-Well authenticated reports say that Protestantism is rapidly increasing in France. It is also reported that the Jesuits are fast growing in France. What then?
-Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe is reported a strong believer in spiritualism; claims to receive messages from the dead. We considered her a spiritualist 15 years ago.
-The Presbyterians of Scotland have always and strongly opposed Sunday travel; but the Glasgow Presbytery now takes action in favor of street cars running on that day.
-Rev. Calvin Lincoln of Hingham, Mass., and Rev. Increase Sumner Lincoln of Wilton, N. H., were both ordained to the ministry in 1824. They are Unitarians, and still in active service.
-Sunday, Feb. 2, was an exceptionally clear day along the Pacific coast, and the Chronicle records an unusually lively time among the target shooters. The benefit of Miss Lindemann at the California Theatre Sunday night was a success!
-Rev. J. Hyatt Smith says he recently received a letter exhorting him to be perfect, which the writer folded in a newspaper, and put a one cent stamp on it. "That man wrote six pages on sinless perfection, and cheated the government out of two cents."
-A new synagogue, said to be one of the finest of its kind in Europe, and costing $220,000, exclusive of the ground, has been opened in Warsaw. Instead of the Jews flocking to Palestine, they are said to be gathering in large numbers in the Russian cities.
-There is hot rivalry between Unitarians and Universalists in Yankton, Dakota, in the matter of making converts. The Unitarian Church gave a dramatic entertainment, which made many members. Then the Universalist Church gave a masquerade ball, which caused a large gain in its membership.
-Even Bishops can be facetious. Bishop Haven said he never knew but one preacher who refused to accept a city appointment, and that was Rev. Jonah who refused to preach in Nineveh. And Bishop Simpson, as a warning to appointees, adds that Jonah got whaled for refusing to go to his appointment.
-The Alliance says: "The theatres of Chicago, save two, give Sunday night entertainments which tend to anything but religious advancement." We were not aware that religious advancement was the object of theatrical entertainments. Would they not succeed under the name of "church sociables" or "donations"?
-An assistant minister of St. Paul's Church, Montreal, died of starvation, January 3. His salary was fixed at $800, but he received only $400, with which he found it impossible to feed and clothe his family, having also sickness to meet. Investigation shows, says the Montreal Witness, that some fashionable congregations have ministers near to starvation.
-The Southern Presbyterian, of Columbia, S. C., gives a very gloomy account of the Southern Presbyterian Church, saying if means beyond what they have any prospect of obtaining, do not come in, they will have to withdraw some of their foreign missionaries, diminish mission schools, give up part of the domestic field, and stop the studies of a portion of their candidates for the ministry.
-The Minister of Justice in Belgium proposes to break a will in which is left a large sum to a priest to say masses for the testator's soul. There is a law in Belgium regulating the price of masses, and all in excess of 365 masses at 15d. each goes to the State! This has been evaded, and the priests to whom bequests have been made "sub-let" the masses to poor priests, at 2½d. each. And this mass of religious traffic is called the gospel of Christ. Oh!
-Another muddle with the "authorities." Ex-President Woolsey in a lecture on the Greek words aion and aionios, concludes that they refer to unending future life of happiness or misery. The Christian Leader thinks that, after his signing the "manual of devotion" for the New Haven schools, his opinions are not to be indorsed. While others think that has nothing to do with "Greek exegesis." It may not; but personal relations and prejudices often influence very eminent men.